42nd Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention and the 15th Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol (LC 42/LP 15) 2020

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was held by a combination of a correspondence period (5 October to 6 November 2020) and a virtual session on 14 and 15 December 2020. The meeting focused on the review and approval of the report of the joint session of the LC/LP Scientific Groups, as well as administrative matters where actions are required annually by the governing  bodies, such as approval of the joint work programme, budgets and election of officers.  

Waste assessment guidance  

The meeting received the report of the forty-third meeting of the LC Scientific Group and the fourteenth meeting of the LP Scientific Group.  

The meeting endorsed the Groupsʹ decision to re-establish the Correspondence Group on the Development of Further Guidance on Disposal Site Selection, with the instruction to finalize the guidance. 

The meeting also endorsed the Groupsʹ decision to re-establish the Correspondence Group on Development of Further Guidance on Assessment of Marine Cumulative Effects, with the instruction to finalize the manuscript.  

Disposal of fibreglass vessels  

The meeting noted the Scientific Groups' discussion on developing recommendations on the disposal of fibreglass vessels and endorsed the Groupsʹ instruction to the Secretariat to initiate the development of guidance on the end-of-life management of fibre reinforced plastic vessels and alternatives to at-sea disposal in collaboration with UNEP.  

Dredged materials  - guidance approved  

The meeting approved guidance on ʺInterim Action Levels (IALs) for dredged materialsʺ, which had been finalized by the Chair of the Correspondence Group on the Development of Interim, Default Action Levels and Guidance for Dredged Material. 

The meeting instructed the Scientific Groups to consider updating the IALs every 5 years at a minimum, and to consider how best to trigger those updates. 

Work programme

The governing bodies also approved the Joint Work Programme for 2020-2022, reviewed the budget and financial accounts for the administration of the London Protocol and the LC/LP Technical Cooperation Trust Fund, and elected its officers for the intersessional period and for the forty-third Consultative Meeting and for the sixteenth Meeting of Contracting Parties.  

The thirteenth meeting of the London Protocol Compliance Group, which under normal circumstances would have been held prior to the meeting of the LC/LP governing bodies, was postponed to 2021.